Share Your TSP Balance and Your Age Thread

[bmneveu]

Closing in on 50K and 33yo. Definitely one of those this month, hopefully both!

 

[flalaw97]

$375K and 53

 

[Globalpack]

July 2020 Update:
50 yrs old. $330K
Moved balance to G Fund to avoid corona correction. Then near bottom 90% S fund, 10% C fund.

 

[Boghie]

Based on my previous entries I'm right on target:

Age: 56
Balance: $607K (as of 2019/12/29)
Investing: Alternate between three allocations (Conservative, Normal, Aggressive)
Expected Balance at age 65 (using Quicken and DinkyTown.Net):

• Retirement Age: 65
• Expected Return: 8.00% - This is under my IRR since 2004.
• Expected Inflation: 3.0% - I still expect very muted inflation.
• Expected Contributions: 20% of Gross Salary, 15% from me, 5% match
• Expected Balance: $1.452 million
• Expected Annual Withdraw (20 years): $84K
• Expected Annual Withdraw (30 years): $68K

Happy Hunting...

 

[Tim-shot]

I’m 57 with 31 years of service. I have $1,211,000 in the TSP. I have contributed 15% and with the 5% match for about 20 years. I put in half of my raises or step increases until I got to 15%. Plan on retiring next spring or about 8 months or so.

 

[chaingunmike]

61 yo with 30 years service & GS-13. $910k & retiring late 2021 when it (hopefully) hits $1 million. 52% C, 11% S, 20% F, 17% G. Stood my ground and rode out the March Coronavirus market meltdown, made zero changes but kept up biweekly contributions. Balance is now $30k higher than before the meltdown. Didn’t max out contributions until 3 years ago but always got the 5% match even in early years. Will contribute the max until the bitter end. Biweekly contribution has always been 100% C and still is.

 

[edfong]

Age 59 years old, retired on small, very small pension with only 16 years federal service, spent most of my working life with contractors and private industry. So my TSP balance is $400 on top of my IRA.

 

[petemalo]

Age 47, 25 years in service as GS14, 28 years in army reservists as an E8, 350,000 in tsp, all in CSI. Plan to retire at the age of 57

 

[Seiko141]

Age- 60 retired in 2016 with 28 yrs of service and $1,120,000 in TSP. I withdraw $3500 per month from TSP plus retirement pay and supplement. Paid off mortgage ($150K). Paying for two kids in college, traveling wife does not work. Current balance in TSP $900,000. Current allocation 50% C fund, 50% S fund.

 

[LTJPFED]

I'm 50 but no where close to anything good. Ashamed of my balance. 23 years of service and have had a couple things happened that I needed to take a loans against my tsp. Everyone has life things so crap happens. I just would like to have more money because I am pretty sure I'll be working until I'm 70 which I'm ok with at this point. No kids and currently no mortgage. Current wife and I are trying to save money for a home but struggling to save. I am not in GS scale so pretty much stuck, capped out, unless I try and get a new job. My problem is I'm a very faithful and committed person, some may say just afraid of trying something new but I don't see if that way. Anyway enough personal stuff.

Just seeing everyone's balances makes me feel even less good about my situation. Not looking for sympathy or anything at all just was stating a fact that my balance is pretty pathetic. I checked this morning and I'm still 100% G, which I knew. Made that 1 transfer last month but missed out on the move higher here in August because thought we weren't moving up. UGH. My account is so low that I get nervous about moving it over to C/S and losing thousands because I can't afford to lose it. Not sure if that makes sense because I know you have to put it there to make money but you can lose it too. Yes, got burned a couple times as well in timing issues.

At least seeing this gives me something to shoot for. If I can somehow get to 500k when I retire I guess that would be good at this point. That is better than nothing. So I will continue to push to increase my percentages, I can't afford putting in the max, just can't. But I could maybe put that COLA in if we get it. Put in that extra percent or two. Maybe then I could get closer to maxing that way.

 

[Bane]

Great profile pic, chaingunmike!

 

[Bullitt]

Just seeing everyone's balances makes me feel even less good about my situation. Yes, got burned a couple times as well in timing issues.

Other people's balances are not important. I'm impressed by those with $1M in TSP in their 40's not 60's. The ones claiming you need $1M to retire are usually the investment companies that want your money.

Figure out how much you will need per month. No mortgage is good, but are you paying rent? What expenses do you project in the future? These are things only you can answer.

If you've got 10-20 years to go and continue to contribute to TSP, see where you'd be. If you're not going to hit your goal, then you need to take a good hard look at your spending.

I'm not a financial advisor, but I'd say dump all that money into an L fund - today. Before noon. Forget timing. Keep contributing through highs and lows and get on with your life.

Positive note, if you work until 70, you'll get a heck of a lot more than those who take SS at the earliest date possible.

 

[fisherhouse]

$225K and 36 years old. I'm active duty military and will be eligible to retire in a couple years. Decisions, decisions....

 

[flalaw97]

I checked this morning and I'm still 100% G, which I knew. Made that 1 transfer last month but missed out on the move higher here in August because thought we weren't moving up. UGH. My account is so low that I get nervous about moving it over to C/S and losing thousands because I can't afford to lose it. Not sure if that makes sense because I know you have to put it there to make money but you can lose it too. Yes, got burned a couple times as well in timing issues.

Based on your description of yourself - looks like you have time to weather some of these losses should they happen, in exhange for a much bigger upside. Since you are not able to use it now, "can't afford to lose it" shouldn't stress you out too much - When S or C dip, you haven't lost anything until you withdraw it or move it to the G. Keeping it in G for any length of time means you are losing thousands to inflation. Maximize what contributions you can and remember that if you are able to get to the point where you want to buy that house and you don't have the deposit available, you can take a residential loan from the money you have put in and hopefully it will have gained from being in the stock funds. You can even think of it that way - the extra that you are putting into your TSP is for your downpayment on your house. If you can avoid taking a loan from your TSP you should but it may help your risk aversion to know that you can. I have taken loans to cover me when shutdown occurred and to make up difference in downpayment needed to avoid mortgage insurance. Also given your aversion to risk and nervousness about moving money into and out of stocks, I think that Bullit's suggestion to just move it into the appropriate L fund and let it grow is a good option. It is like having a built in money manager that, over time, has been proven to be pretty effective. Good luck!

 

[rangerray]

I have about $330,000 in my account with 26 years working and am relatively ashamed at my balance as well. For the first half of my career I only contributed 5% to get the matching funds and have only put in 10% of my salary for about 10 or 12 years. I recommend to new employees to put in at least 10% from the start if they can swing it. I did at least have my money in an L-Fund for a good part of the time, but I consider it a bad mistake that I was so "hands off" during the years that it was most crucial. For example, I rode the 2008 crash all the way to the bottom (thank goodness I didn't sell at the bottom).

2 things:

- Don't give up, especially if you plan to keep working way past when you are eligible to retire. When you finally get 200-250K in your account, those returns really make a huge difference.

- Don't base your success on those around you. Your needs are unique. Though I may retire with under $400,000 in my TSP, I will be completely debt free. I don't need as much money to live in retirement as I do while working. I will pick up a "fun" job to put more spending money in my pocket.

I WILL CONTINUE TO MANAGE MY TSP IN RETIREMENT. Though, I won't be contributing, I've still got a good balance to build with. Retirement is not the end.

 

[ALRetiree]

Hi everyone, just registered to the forums but have read them from time to time.

I'm 55 and my TSP is $810,000. I'm planning to retire in 12 months with 33 years service, 25 in civilian service. Have my TSP fairly conservative the last year but still invested probably at least 50% in stocks. I like reading this thread because it gives me an idea of where I stand going into retirement. You never know if you have "enough" but I guess that's relative to what you want to do.

 

[tsptalk]

Welcome ALRetiree!

 

[ALRetiree]

Welcome ALRetiree!

Thanks Tom!

 

[Quips]

I haven't been here in a very long time. Age 66 still working w/ TSP barely into seven digits. Very aggressive position at the moment in equities (90/10 ... 10% of that 90 in the I fund). I plan to reallocate into a very defensive posture by the end of next week, just before Apple splits 4-1 on Aug. 27. I feel a 10% correction is due sometime in Sept or Oct with little upside remaining.

Apple is going parabolic now, and that's not good. S&P market breadth is horrible with five equities accounting for 22-23% of its total $ assets. The transition from Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet & Amazon into more value oriented names will not be smooth. The Covid economy will continue until a vaccine is developed and the transition very bumpy into the other 495 S&P companies

 

[chaingunmike]

Great profile pic, chaingunmike!

Thank you Bane!

I just wanted to offer some advice to those who fear the C, S & I funds. In a word, don’t. I recommend that you read the Tony Robbins book “Unshakeable.” In that book he states that stocks have always trended up for the last 50 years. And there will always be large declines and bear markets, but eventually stocks always recover and start their upward climb again. The one thing that I remember the most from the book is this- the greatest danger is being OUT of the market. Sitting on the sidelines (out of stocks) is the costliest mistake of all. You can’t win by sitting on the bench. You HAVE to be in the game. And you have to take the losses from time to time so that you can be there when the gains come. This philosophy has guided my TSP investing for the last three years and the book’s advice on riding out bear markets really helped me through the March coronavirus market meltdown.

So my advice to those who are fearful of stocks is, do whatever you have to do in order to convince yourself to keep investing the bulk of your TSP in CSI. This is especially true for anyone who has 10 or more years to go before retirement. NOW is the time to be making those returns that you will live on when you’re 70.

I will leave you with this quote: “There is the risk that you can’t afford to take, and then there is the risk that you can’t afford not to take.” Investing in the CSI funds is the latter.